1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exercise-data management system for managing information about participant's exercise results, and an exercise-data management server apparatus for use in the system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there has been proposed a training management system designed such that a card reader is arranged in a terminal equipped in a training machine to collect a use result in response to each user's action of inserting his/her own user card into the card reader at the start of use and detaching the user card from the card reader at the end of the use, and then transfer the use result to a host computer (server apparatus, etc.) via a network (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-230035). In a training having difficulty in collecting a use result, such as aerobics, swimming or free weights, this system is designed to measure, as a use time, a time period where a user card is inserted into an identification section (card reader) of a terminal placed in a training area, and calculate a consumed calorie value in accordance with the use time.
As above, in the training, such as aerobics, having difficulty in collecting a use result, the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-230035 is designed to measure, as a use time, a time period where a user card is inserted into an identification section of a terminal placed in a training area, and calculate a consumed calorie value in accordance with the use time. However, in a mass exercise, such as aerobics or swimming, where training is performed in a group of participants or users, the card reader must be provided in a number equal to that of users, and therefore the scale of the system will be inevitably expanded. It is also necessary for the system to keep the user card inserted in the card reader during the exercise, and thereby each user will be obliged to perform a user-card inserting operation at the start of the exercise and a user-card detaching operation at the end of the exercise. Moreover, a time difference between the insertion and detachment timings is likely to cause an undesirable situation where the user erroneously detaches other user's card.
As one alternative of the above system, it is contemplated that a participant manually inputs exercise data to a management server for himself/herself. In this case, the participant has to perform the input operation after exercise or before returning home from a training gym. This operation is complicated and troublesome for the participant who is physically exhausted. Moreover, the participant inputs his/her own exercise result in reliance on memory, and therefore can fail to input accurate data, particularly, after performing plural types of exercises. In the worst case, wrong data is likely to be entered during the input operation.